Penalty is nearly twice what ex-council aide B.D. Howard raised

B.D. Howard, a former City Council candidate, was fined by the Ethics Commission.

The San Diego Ethics Commission levied a $9,500 fine Thursday against former City Hall aide B.D. Howard for failing to properly disclose his spending in a failed 2010 bid for City Council.

The commission found that Howard didn’t have receipts to account for nearly $4,000 in campaign spending, knowingly misled the public about how much money he had in his campaign coffers and displayed a cavalier attitude about the violations during the investigation. He didn’t appear at Thursday’s hearing.

Howard, 33, is a former aide to ex-City Council President Ben Hueso and a veteran of local political campaigns. Several ethics commissioners said Howard’s experience and education — he has a law degree — made his campaign violations perplexing and at least two pushed unsuccessfully for a larger fine. The commission voted unanimously to forward their findings to the state bar.

Howard became the first person to take advantage of a change in the Ethics Commission’s proceedings that allows someone facing a penalty to present the facts to an administrative law judge for an opinion. Judge Mary Agnes Matyszewski heard the case in May and issued a scathing decision against Howard.

“Respondent’s demeanor both during his testimony and throughout this entire proceeding was cavalier,” she wrote. “He failed at any point in the day to demonstrate even the slightest insight into why his inadequate record-keeping might be problematic.”

Matyszewski agreed with ethics investigators that a $9,500 fine was warranted and a higher fine would be justified.

Howard issued a statement Thursday that was a copy of his comments to the judge. In the remarks, he apologized for his mistakes but said it would have a chilling effect on future grass-roots candidates if he received a hefty fine. He said a $250 fine would be fair and that the Ethics Commission "should be eliminated because they have no usefulness."

"As a candidate with no money and without professionals running my campaign it does not seem appropriate to charge me the same as other candidates who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars," Howard said.

In a subsequent email, Howard said he plans to appeal the commission's decision. "I do not feel as though I had a fair and impartial hearing and I will be taking this matter to San Diego Superior Court, for an entirely new trial proceeding," he wrote.

Commissioner Lee Biddle said, “We can be sensitive to the concerns of being a grass-roots campaign, but we also need to at times send a message that even the smallest campaigns can’t simply ignore the most basic record-keeping and compliance requirements. There’s incredible value to the public in having accurate, thorough and clear disclosures made about their candidates and the financial backing behind those candidates.”

Howard couldn’t account for how he spent $4,000 of the roughly $5,000 he raised. He didn’t have receipts and bank records showed he made nondescript purchases at convenience stores and Home Depot. Without receipts, it’s impossible to know if the money was spent on political activities, as required, or something else, investigators said.

The most egregious violation uncovered by investigators was that Howard reported having $2,000 available in his campaign account as of June 30, 2010. Bank records show he checked the balance that day and it held $6.25.

Howard finished third in the June 2010 primary for the District 8 council seat, missing the top-two runoff by 304 votes. David Alvarez won the race.